A large gap exists between the prevention needs of African-American, heterosexual men and the number and quality of programs demonstrated to meet these needs. Men who identify or are classified as Black are at increased risk, as compared to other racial/ethnic groups, for HIV infection acquired through heterosexual risk behavior. An important challenge is to design effective, sustainable programs that have potential to target this population and that can address multiple levels of factors that impact HIV-related behaviors. The barbershop setting is one venue that has significant promise as a vehicle for delivery of such programs, as this setting is widely and frequently used, has potential to build upon extant and trusting relationships, and can help promote a normative environment in support of behavior change. Investigators at SUNY Downstate Medical Center and the Arthur Ashe Institute of Urban Health, Inc. will build on their success in developing, implementing, and evaluating health promotion activities administered in community settings such as hair salons and barbershops by developing a program that will reach heterosexual men in barbershops serving communities with high HIV morbidity and AIDS- related mortality. We propose to: (1) Develop a steering committee consisting of key community stakeholders, representatives from organizations comprising our existing community partnerships, program investigators, and other key informants, (2) Conduct qualitative and quantiative formative evaluation to describe key individual and contextual level factors related to risk behavior in this population, and (3) design, implement, and evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of a theory-based behavioral intervention to reduce the burden of HIV. This three- year program will focus on development of the relationships, resources, infrastructure, and preliminary data necessary to implement and evaluate full-scale intervention programs designed to address these issues. This program seeks to design a community-based HIV prevention program that meets the needs of African American heterosexual men. As such, this proposal will meet a priority need as identified by our community, seek to reduce racial/ethnic disparities in disease as evidenced by epidemiologic data, and address the Healthy People 2010 overall goals to "Prevent human immunodeficiency virus infection and its related illness and death" and to "Promote responsible sexual behaviors, strengthen community capacity, and increase access to quality services to prevent sexually transmitted diseases and their complications." [unreadable] [unreadable] [unreadable]